FRIDAY POTPOURRI: BOOK BEGINNINGS & THE FRIDAY 56 — FEB. 17

Welcome to a potpourri of fun today as we share Book Beginnings, hosted by A Few More Pages; and as we showcase The Friday 56 with Freda’s Voice.

To join in, just grab a book and share the opening lines…along with any thoughts you wish to give us; then turn to page 56 and excerpt anything on the page.

Then give us the title of the book, so others can add it to their lists!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I’ve grabbed a book from next week’s stack:  Started Early, Took My Dog, by Kate Atkinson, is the fourth book in her Jackson Brodie series.

Starred Review. British author Atkinson’s magnificently plotted fourth novel featuring Jackson Brodie (after When Will There Be Good News?) takes the “semi-retired” PI back to his Yorkshire hometown to trace the biological parents of Hope McMasters, a woman adopted by a couple in the 1970s at age two. Jackson is faced with more questions than answers when Hope’s parents aren’t in any database nor is her adoption on record. In the author’s signature multilayered style, she shifts between past and present, interweaving the stories of Tracy Waterhouse, a recently retired detective superintendent now in charge of security at a Leeds mall, and aging actress Tilly Squires. On the same day that Jackson and Tilly are in the mall, Tracy makes a snap decision that will have lasting consequences for everyone. Atkinson injects wit even in the bleakest moments—such as Jackson’s newfound appreciation for poetry, evoked in the Emily Dickinson–inspired title—yet never loses her razor-sharp edge.

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Beginning:  (1975:  April 9) – Leeds:  “Motorway City of the Seventies.”  A proud slogan.  No irony intended.  Gaslight still flickering on some streets.  Life in a northern town.

Hmm…not sure if this beginning would grab me, but I’ll keep reading, because I love this author and this series.

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P. 56:  Jackson had occasionally to remind himself that there was a purpose to his leisurely Byzantine progress around the country.  Everything came (and went) in threes, as far as he could see.  Three Fates, three Furies, three Graces, three Kings, three monkeys, a three-personed God.

Very curious passage…now I’m very curious!

What are you sharing today?  I hope you’ll stop by with your comments and links.